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‘Ultra-Supercritical’ Says It All About New Pakistani Plant

July 06, 2018 at 06:07pm

Deep below the surface of the golden sands of Pakistan’s Thar desert, lie the world’s seventh largest reserves of coal. Estimates suggest that just 1% of these deposits could supply up to a fifth of the country’s current energy generation for up to 50 years. Now, GE Power will provide SEPCOIII with advanced boiler and steam turbine technology to help establish Pakistan’s first ultra-supercritical power project, the Lucky Electric plant, and the facility will be powered primarily through lignite coal reserves mined at Thar.

The plant, which is located in Bin Qasim, Karachi, Pakistan will be able to generate up to 660 megawatts (MW) of electricity with an efficiency well above the world average of about 33% for coal power plants. This directly translates into lower fuel costs and fewer emissions per megawatt of energy generated.

The facility is owned by Lucky Electric Power Company and is scheduled for completion in 2021. SEPCOIII is the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the project.

GE’s advanced boilers will use Beater Wheel mills and other coal preparation technology to enable the plant to run on the lignite mined at Thar – something that was long considered difficult to do because of the high moisture and low calorific value of Thar’s reserves.

The project’s location also ensures easy connectivity to the national grid and low transmission and distribution losses in supplying power, particularly to the major load center of the city of Karachi.